Thursday, June 20, 2019

(Kuala Lumpur) On the 17th of July 2014 (MH17) on a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to
Kuala Lumpur that was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing all
283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The
investigation that followed revealed hard evidence that the missile used was a Buk
missile system, transported from Russia into the separatist part of eastern Ukraine.
From the get go, the Russians have obstructed the investigation; initially they
stated that the Ukrainians fired the missile, and then they tried pushing the view that a Ukrainian Su 25 shot down MH17. (The problem there is the SU 25 is
a ground attack aircraft and not fitted to carry air to air missiles.) Also there exists damning video evidence of a
surface to air launch and the actual wreckage of the missile used, a missile
that could only come from a Buk Anti-aircraft missile system.

In October 2015,
the Dutch Safety Board concluded the plane had been hit by a Buk missile,
causing it to break apart in mid-air. The Dutch-led joint investigation team
(JIT)- which includes officials from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium,
Malaysia and Ukraine - concluded in May 2018 that the missile system belonged
to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile brigade, based in the western Russian city of
Kursk. It produced evidence that it said proved how the missile system had
reached eastern Ukraine.

Naturally the Russians have slated the finding stating they that they reject the findings of the JIT
which were "aimed at discrediting the Russian Federation in the eyes of
the international community". But what was really surprising is that Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of
Malaysia , the country the plane that was shot down belonged to has parroted the very same line as the Russians.

"Blaming Russia for the shooting down of flight MH17 has always been the “script” of an international political plot to attack the country"

That got me thinking why would he
go down that line. A quick check and it works out that Russia has been
throwing a lot of money at Malaysia these past few years:

On the 15th March 2016, a Russian-Malaysian business council was
established with the intent to strengthen cooperation on economic, scientific,
technological issues and culture.